01
Flights
Larnaka (LCA) → Athens (ATH)Saturday 22 Aug · 10:15 → 12:00 · 1h 45m · nonstop
A3 903
Airbus A321neo · Economy · 1 checked bag (23 kg).
Be at Larnaka airport by 08:15 (2h before) — with kids and group check-in, earlier is better.
Land 12:00 → hotels are all different in Athens, so we split up on arrival and meet again at dinner: Akti, Vouliagmeni at 20:00.
Times here are the ones on our tickets — if your family booked separately, double-check your own confirmation.
Athens (ATH) → Santorini (JTR)Monday 24 Aug · 11:00 → 11:50 · 50m · nonstop
A3 356
Airbus A320 · Economy · 1 checked bag (23 kg).
Leave Athens accommodation by 08:30–09:00 — allow 45–60 min to ATH plus domestic check-in.
Rental car pick-up is at JTR. The hotel is only 10–15 min from the airport, so we can be at reception around 12:45–13:00. Check-in is normally from 15:00 — bags can go behind the desk and we can hit the beach or the pool first.
Santorini (JTR) → Athens → Larnaka (LCA)Friday 28 Aug · 11:35 → 17:30 · 1 stop at ATH · 5h 55m total
A3 355 / A3 906
JTR 11:35 → ATH 12:25 · 3h 25m connection · ATH 15:50 → LCA 17:30.
🚗 Hotel → Santorini airport ≈ 10–15 min. Add the rental car returns → work backwards: at JTR by 09:35, leave the hotel 09:10.
3 h 25 layover in Athens — enough for a proper sit-down lunch airside. The kids' play area is by the B gates in the intra-Schengen zone.
Fuel the cars on Thursday evening, not on the Friday morning — and the single terminal approach road at JTR jams when a few flights leave together.
02
Hotel
AMARIA Beach Resort — by Nomee Hospitality Group
Check-in Mon 24 Aug · Check-out Fri 28 Aug (4 nights)
Beach-side resort on Agia Paraskevi beach, between Monolithos and Kamari (east coast). Whole group in the same hotel; each family has its own rental car with free on-site parking.
- From the airport10–15 min · ~4 km
- Beach~100 m · black sand, gentle entry
- ParkingFree on site · one space per family
- Reception+30 22860 30563
- On sitePool, MYRRA restaurant, spa, beach bar
- Fira / Oia20–30 min · 40–50 min
👶 Good news for the kids: Agia Paraskevi is one of the quietest beaches on the island and the water shelves gently — much easier than Kamari or Perissa. Two things to pack: water shoes (black volcanic sand gets genuinely too hot to walk on by 11:00) and a baby carrier instead of a stroller — nothing in Oia, Ammoudi or the villages works with wheels.
Handy to know: we're right at the north end of the runway, so expect a few low planes during the day — most kids think this is the best feature of the hotel. The airport shuts overnight, so nights are quiet. Kamari town (pharmacy, shops, more tavernas) is 8–12 min by car.
Athens (22–23 Aug): every family is booked separately, so nothing listed here. Share your own address in the group chat for pick-ups, make sure you know your check-in time and how you're getting from ATH — and be at Akti by 20:00 on Saturday.
03
Reservations — day by day
Sat 22AthensSun 23AthensMon 24Athens → SantoriniTue 25SantoriniWed 26SantoriniThu 27SantoriniFri 28Departure
Saturday 22 August — AthensArrival day
Land in Athens & settle in
12:00 arrival
Transfer to each family's accommodation, unpack and rest before dinner.
Airport to the Riviera (Voula / Vouliagmeni side) is 30–40 min; airport to the centre is 40–50 min in August afternoon traffic. Plan the afternoon around a nap for the little ones — dinner is late-ish.
Dinner — Akti Restaurant
🍽 20:00 · reservation
Leof. Poseidonos 6, Vouliagmeni · seafood, right on the bay.
- On the water — alfresco terrace on Vouliagmeni bay; sunset is around 20:10, so we get the last of the light.
- Parking: on-site plus valet, so no hunting on Poseidonos.
- Price: upper end. Fish is by the kilo — ask the per-kilo price before you nod.
- Reservations: +30 210 896 0748.
🚗 From the centre 30–40 min (~20 km via Vouliagmenis Ave.) · from ATH 30–45 min via Attiki Odos → Vari → Vouliagmeni.
👶 With the kids: highchairs are available and the early part of the evening is calm. It turns into a music/DJ venue later, so plan on eating between 20:00 and 22:00 and heading off before the volume climbs.
Sunday 23 August — AthensBeach day
Dot Athens
☀️ Full day
Whole day at the beach at DOT Beach Vibes, Alkyonidon 4, Voula — inside the A' Plaz Voulas complex.
- Arrive 09:30–10:30. Sunbed sets are handed out from 08:00 and the front rows go first — late August weekends sell out.
- Sunbeds (2 beds per set): front row €60–70, 2nd–3rd row €50–60, back rows €40–50, basic umbrella €30–50, cabana €150 (fits 4).
- Beach entry is separate: roughly €9.50 weekdays / €12.50 weekends per adult, free under 6, ~€5 for ages 6–12.
- Food: Mediterranean all-day menu served at the beds — you need a sunbed to sit and eat, so treat it as the table charge.
- Book ahead: +30 210 895 8872 · info@dot-voula.com · or online via Plazz.
🚗 From the centre 25–35 min (~16 km); the tram stops at the entrance if you'd rather not drive. 🅿️ Free on-site parking at the complex — fills up by ~11:00 on a Sunday.
👶 With the kids: the easy one — sheltered, shallow swimming area, lifeguard on duty until 20:00, showers, shops and step-free access. Umbrella shade is included with every set, which matters between 12:00 and 16:00.
🌆 Evening
Drinks/dinner at Dot Athens. Pack the suitcases tonight — early start tomorrow.
Nothing is booked for the evening. Easiest plan is dinner near your own hotel, then an early night — Monday is a travel day.
Monday 24 August — Athens → SantoriniTransfer day
Arrival in Santorini · pick up rental cars · hotel check-in
🛬 11:50 landing
🚗 Airport → AMĀRIA Beach Resort ≈ 10–15 min (~4 km). Add 20–30 min at the airport for the rental car desks.
- Ask for the smallest car you can live with — village lanes and parking spaces here punish big cars.
- Check the child seats the moment they hand the car over; swap anything that looks tired.
- Drop bags at reception if rooms aren't ready, then straight to the pool or the beach.
👶 Rest / pool time at the hotel in the afternoon before dinner.
Free time — optional winery visit
🍷 Afternoon · optional, the rest of us stay by the pool
- Gaia Wines — the closest winery to the hotel, 4–5 min down the Monolithos beach road. Casual, outdoors, on the pebbles. Tastings ~€8 (4 wines, 30–45 min) or ~€15 (8 wines). Open to ~19:00, easy parking — best option with kids in tow.
- Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum (Vothonas, 8–12 min) — the winery is inside a cave with a walk-through museum. Underground, so it's cool, and the kids actually have something to look at.
- Skip Santo Wines unless it's late morning — from 18:00 it's the busiest sunset spot on the island and the car park is a scrum.
Nominate a driver. The Greek limit is 0.05% and the road home is unlit. Tastings and four rental cars are a bad combination.
Dinner — Galini Restaurant Tavern
🍽 19:30 · reservation
Agia Paraskevi beach — literally next door to the hotel.
- Walk, don't drive — about 5 minutes along the beach. Nobody has to be a designated driver tonight.
- Greek seafood and grills, mid-range prices, big outdoor terrace on the sand. Around for ~60 years.
- Reservations: +30 22860 32924 — worth confirming the group size the morning of.
🚗 Hotel → there 5 min on foot (2 min if you insist on driving); same coming back.
👶 With the kids: the best meal of the week for them — tables on the sand, room to wander, and bed is a five-minute walk away. Bring a torch or use your phone for the walk back.
Tuesday 25 August — SantoriniHotel day + Oia evening
Hotel & beach day
☀️ Full day at the resort · deliberately lazy — tonight is the long one
👶 No driving until late afternoon — try to get the kids a proper afternoon nap. We leave early and we're back late.
Leave the hotel 17:15 — yes, nearly two hours before dinner. Oia in the 17:30–20:30 window is the worst traffic on the island: one road in, coaches, taxis and everyone chasing the ~20:00 sunset. 70–80 minutes door to door is realistic, plus the parking hunt.
Dinner — Ammoudi Fish Tavern (Ammoudi Bay, Oia)
🍽 19:00 · reservation
- Fish is by the kilo and this is the priciest stop of the week — agree the per-kilo rate and the fish before it goes on the grill.
- Tables sit right over the water. Beautiful, and in places there's little or no railing.
- Reservations essential for the 19:00–20:00 slots: +30 22860 72298.
🚗 Hotel → there 55–80 min (~21 km); leaving 17:15 lands us around 18:30 with time to park. Back 60–75 min — the harder leg, the whole island leaves Oia at once and then it's unlit road home. Oia → Ammoudi is 8–12 min down plus 10–15 min climbing back out in the dark.
The parking problem. There is no car park at Ammoudi — you park on the road down, and in late August at dinner time you will not find a space. The road is a series of tight, blind hairpins with two-way traffic and pedestrians walking in it. Best plan: drive down, drop everyone at the taverna, then one driver per car goes back up to park in Oia and walks down. Or leave the cars in Oia and taxi down and back.
👶 With the kids: do not attempt the ~300 steps from Oia down to the bay — no shade, donkey traffic, and a brutal climb back. Strollers are useless here; use a carrier. Once seated, keep the little ones on the inside of the table.
Stroll around Oia
🌇 20:45 · after dinner, once the sunset crowd thins
Sunset is around 20:00, so we'll catch it from the bay rather than from the village — arguably the better view anyway.
🅿️ Where to park: the Finikia lots on the east approach, or the Water Supply Company lot, both a short walk in. The central lots are effectively full 17:00–21:00.
Don't drive into the village lanes. Some are one-way, some are pedestrian-only, and Google will happily send you into both.
👶 Cobbled, stepped alleys — a baby carrier works far better than a stroller. If anyone would rather see Oia calmly, do a separate 10:00–12:00 visit on Thursday: same village, cool light, 40 min drive.
Wednesday 26 August — SantoriniBeach bar + early dinner
Beach bar — Wet Stories (Perivolos)
☀️ From 11:00 · Perivolos beach, south coast
- Go early. Late morning to mid-afternoon it's a proper family-friendly beach club; from about 15:00 the DJ gets loud and the crowd turns party.
- Sunbeds and cabanas carry a minimum spend in August — book a set beforehand: +30 22860 82990.
- Black sand again, so water shoes for everyone.
🚗 Hotel → there 25–35 min (~14 km via Messaria – Pyrgos – Emporio). Back 25–35 min, easy in daylight.
👶 With the kids: the weakest fit of the week. Aim to be there ~11:00, eat lunch there, and be driving away by ~15:00 — which conveniently gives everyone an afternoon at the hotel before dinner.
Early dinner — “Metaxi Mas” (Exo Gonia)
🍽 19:30 · reservation
Exo Gonia, next to the church of Agios Charalambos.
- Santorinian and Cretan cooking, generous shared plates, mid-range — widely considered the locals' favourite on the island.
- Book well ahead: +30 22860 31323 (they answer 12:00–23:00). In August this books out days in advance.
- Parking is in the lot beside the church. Pin the church, not the restaurant — the last lanes in are narrow.
🚗 Hotel → there 15–20 min (~6 km) — leave by 19:05. From Perivolos 20–25 min if anyone comes straight from the beach bar. Back 20–25 min on unlit narrow village lanes — 30–40 km/h, take it slow.
👶 With the kids: relaxed terrace with an island-house feel and plenty of space. An early sitting at 19:30 is exactly right.
Drinks at the hotel
🍸 From ~21:30
👶 Kids can go to bed while the adults stay at the hotel bar — no extra driving.
Thursday 27 August — SantoriniLast full day
Hotel day · free afternoon (winery or Oia walk)
☀️ Morning at the resort · afternoon as each family prefers
- Oia in the morning (10:00–12:00) if you missed it or want it calm — 40–50 min each way, and far easier than the sunset version.
- A winery — Artemis Karamolegos or Argyros Estate, 10–15 min, both with shade and food.
- Or nothing at all: it's the last day and dinner is a late-ish one.
Dinner — Cavo Tagoo Santorini
🍽 19:30 · reservation · ROKA at Cavo Tagoo, Imerovigli
- Japanese robatayaki, caldera view, the most expensive dinner of the trip — and the dressiest.
- Reservations required: +30 22860 28900.
- Parking is tight in Imerovigli and the hotel doesn't really offer any. Either send one car early to scout a spot, or take taxis — the hotel's own private transfer is around €100 each way, which tells you everything.
🚗 Hotel → there 30–40 min (~13 km); up to 45 min in the 18:30–20:30 sunset window, so leave by 18:30. Back 30–35 min, all of it in the dark along the caldera ridge road — slow and steady.
👶 With the kids: a cliff-edge, multi-level luxury property with an unfenced infinity pool. Fine for dinner with hands held; not a place to let anyone roam. If the little ones are fading, this is the night to consider a babysitter through the hotel.
Pack tonight: cars back and the flight is at 11:35 tomorrow.
Friday 28 August — Santorini → LarnakaDeparture
Check-out, return the cars, fly home
✈️ JTR 11:35 → ATH 12:25 → LCA 17:30
🚗 Leave the hotel by 09:10 — airport is 10–15 min, so at JTR by 09:35; budget 20–25 min for the terminal approach road if it looks busy.
Fuel the cars on Thursday evening — the station queue on a Friday morning is not where you want to be. Rental drop-off, then check-in. Breakfast at the hotel first: the airport café is small and mobbed.
👶 3h 25m layover in Athens — snacks and something to keep the kids busy; the play areas are past passport control.
04
Driving times
From AMĀRIA · realistic late-August figures. Google's Santorini estimates are ideal-conditions ones — in late August, add half again for anything mid-island and roughly double it for Oia at sunset. The numbers below are already padded.
| Where | There | Back | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galini Tavern | 5 min walk | 5 min walk | Next door on the beach |
| Gaia Wines | 4–5 min | 4–5 min | Closest winery, easy parking |
| Airport (JTR) | 10–15 min | 10–15 min | 20–25 min when flights bunch up |
| Kamari town | 8–12 min | 8–12 min | Beach-road parking full 10:00–19:00 |
| Wine Museum, Vothonas | 8–12 min | 8–12 min | Cave winery, good with kids |
| Metaxi Mas, Exo Gonia | 15–20 min | 20–25 min | Park at the church; dark lanes on the way back |
| Fira | 20–30 min | 20–30 min | Worst 10:00–13:00 on cruise days |
| Santo Wines, Pyrgos | 20–30 min | 20–30 min | 35–45 min near sunset — go late morning |
| Wet Stories, Perivolos | 25–35 min | 25–35 min | Via Messaria – Pyrgos – Emporio |
| Cavo Tagoo, Imerovigli | 30–40 min | 30–35 min | Up to 45 min in the sunset window |
| Oia village | 40–50 min | 45–60 min | 55–80 min in the 17:30–20:30 crush |
| Ammoudi Bay | 55–80 min | 60–75 min | Oia time + the descent and parking hunt |
05
Good to know
Ten things worth knowing about driving here
- Small car wins. Narrow lanes, tight turns, micro parking spaces.
- Two crush windows every day: 10:00–13:00 (cruise crowds in Fira and Oia) and 18:00–21:30 (sunset out, then everyone home at once).
- Never drive into Oia near sunset. Park on the outskirts — Finikia or the Water Supply lot — and walk in.
- Most roads outside the main ones are unlit, no markings, low stone walls, pedestrians in dark clothes. Three of our dinners come home in the dark: 30–40 km/h is plenty.
- ATVs are the main hazard. Inexperienced riders, blind overtakes. Give them room, and don't put the family on one.
- A tap on the horn on a blind hairpin is information, not aggression. Do the same.
- Let impatient locals pass. Pull in, wave them by, carry on.
- Child seats are compulsory — inspect what the rental company gives you.
- Fira and Oia centres are pedestrian. Don't try to get close; park and walk.
- 0.05% alcohol limit. On winery afternoons and long dinners, agree the driver before the first glass.
- Restaurant reservation times are fixed — please be there 10 minutes early so the group is seated together.
- Water shoes for everyone: the black volcanic sand is too hot to walk on from about 11:00.
- Baby carriers beat strollers everywhere on Santorini — Oia, Ammoudi and the villages are steps and cobbles.
- Flight details here are the ones on our tickets, so check your own confirmation if you booked separately.